The game was decided in one catastrophic inning. St. Louis scored six runs in the fifth inning to defeat San Diego 6-0 at Petco Park, turning a scoreless pitcher's duel into a rout.
Michael McGreevy dominated for six innings, allowing one hit while striking out nine batters. The right-hander walked two and threw 94 pitches to improve to 3-2 with a 2.18 ERA.
The Cardinals broke through against Griffin Canning in the fifth. Wetherholt singled to right, and Church scored on a fielding error by right fielder Tatis Jr. as Winn and Scott II also scored on the error, with Wetherholt crossing the plate as well. Gorman followed with an RBI single to right that scored Herrera, and Winn capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to left that brought Burleson home.
Canning lasted just 4.1 innings, allowing seven hits and six runs while striking out five. The loss dropped him to 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA. San Diego managed only one hit against St. Louis pitching.
The Cardinals snapped a one-game losing streak to improve to 21-15. San Diego fell to 22-14 despite entering the game with a two-game winning streak.